Microorganisms collected during a solar eclipse in India

A solar eclipse was observed in India on 24 October, 1995. It was a total eclipse in some parts of the country while it was partial in other parts. The effect of the total or partial eclipse on the airspora was investigated. Airspora play an important role in various phenomena on the earth. Martins rose bengal agar plates were exposed at Kalpi (total eclipse) and at Aurangabad (partial eclipse). Both the quantitative and qualitative variations in the airspora were observed during different phases of the eclipse. At both places the number of fungal colonies were higher during the pre- and post-eclipse phase. There was a decrease at contact phase, total/partial or diamond ring eclipse phase. Thus, very minor changes were observed during the eclipse period. Bacterial colonies were higher at the post-eclipse phase at Kalpi but were less at Aurangabad during this phase. At Kalpi 23 fungal species were recorded while at Aurangabad 31 were recorded. Most of the fungal species are organic matter decomposers, while some of them are known to cause allergies in humans and also cause plant diseases.Aspergillus species were dominant. BothA. fumigatus (causing allergy and asthma) andA. flavus (producing aflatoxin) were the dominant species and they showed a definite trend in their occurrence. This was related to wind velocity and temperature changes in the atmosphere.